European Commission to ban inefficient power adapters

The European Commission has announced a new measure to save power, this time they have turned their attention to external power supplies that convert AC to DC power for devices like cell phones, laptops, modems, etc.

New regulations to ban inefficient power adapters will go in effect by 2011, Ferran Tarradellas, the spokesman for E.U. Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs, says more efficient adapters would mean consumers use about 30 percent less electricity when running their devices. In the long term, the new standards for external power supplies could save enough electriicty by 2020 to power a small country like Luthuania for a year.

These external power supplies – usually square plastic blocks – convert power from wall sockets to lower voltages suitable for charging and operating these devices. A key problem with current designs for these devices is that the external supplies waste a lot of energy in the form of excess heat.

The new requirements, which would be in place by 2011, should lead to changes in the way the power blocks convert electricity and should make the devices themselves more efficient even when they are on battery mode, the Commission said.

Source: NY Times